place for the final dozen games, was apparently too much of a luxury for them to stand, and they paid for it Friday night.

Bungling away an 18-point lead, not even another desperation-fueled, Kobe Bryant-led comeback was enough in a 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards at Staples Center.

These are the same Wizards who entered the game with a league-low six road victories.

"There's no explanation for it. I don't know," D'Antoni said. "There's no explanation for it. Every time we get up 16, it's like 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard.' And we start messing with the game.

"You start messing with not moving the ball, you start messing with 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time,' you start messing with the

basketball gods and they'll get you. The ball will roll around and go in for them, and it will roll around and go out for us because we're messing with the game.

"If we don't change that, well, obviously we won't make the playoffs, but even if we do, we'll get blown out in the playoffs. You can't be a fairly good team, a good team, without passing the basketball, without understanding what we're doing defensively, and honing in and do it. Can't do it. It's impossible."

He was just getting started, but it was a common theme.

"It's a discouraging loss," said Bryant, who had 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. "We're upset about it. We have to go back on the road and pick it back up."

A four-game trip looms.

Pau Gasol, who missed 20 games with a plantar fascia tear, returned and played 21 minutes but he'll still be working his way back into shape.

Bryant was back from his sprained ankle, but even a bolstered roster wasn't enough to flash out to guard Trevor Ariza.

The former Westchester High and UCLA star, who showed a propensity to hit 3-pointers during his time with the Lakers, drilled 7 of 12 shots from distance and scored 25 points.

Cue D'Antoni.

"I mean, Trevor Ariza's got 12 attempts at 3's and he's wide open. That's inexcusable," D'Antoni said. "That's just a matter of lapses or gambling or 'I'm not going to play hard tonight because we'll just outscore 'em,' and that's why we dug ourselves a hole at the first of the year and now we're digging it again.

"We'll talk about it and we'll try to change it around, but we've got to have some effort out there. Mental effort, mostly."

Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who could have further distanced themselves from Utah in the Western Conference playoff chase.

Jodie Meeks had 16 points off the bench and Antawn Jamison had 11 points and seven rebounds, but Jamison had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a sprained right wrist. X-rays taken after the game were negative but he's scheduled to undergo an MRI exam today.

Guard John Wall had 24 points and 16 points for the Wizards (25-43), who had only nine turnovers to 17 for the Lakers.

"We stopped rotating, stopped hustling certain plays and they hit a couple open jumpers just uncontested," Gasol said. "Those are the types of shots and types of plays that we can't afford going down the road."

The Lakers had a chance to tie the score with 6 seconds left. Bryant worked his way to the left elbow of the key for an 11-foot jumper, but it went in and out. He had a 3-point try to tie it at the buzzer, but it glanced off the rim.

"I just rushed it a little bit," Bryant said of the two-point try. "I didn't know how much time I had to get it off and I had to check the line, so I had to shoot it a little quicker than I wanted to."

Gasol made 2 of 10 shots and finished with four points, but had eight rebounds working in shorter stints.

"A little sore, but hopefully it'll be OK (today) and it'll be better every game," Gasol said. "My conditioning will also get better so I can incrase my productivity and my minutes."